Arizona Theatre Matters Strategic Plan: A Rolling Five-Year Framework

A Rolling Five-Year Strategic Plan

Arizona Theatre Matters maintains a rolling five-year strategic plan. Each year, the organization reviews its progress, moves the completed year into its strategic record, and adds a new fifth year.

This structure keeps ATM accountable to previous commitments while allowing the plan to respond to artistic development, organizational learning, changing conditions, new partnerships, and opportunities that could not have been anticipated when the plan was first established.

The five years shown below constitute ATM’s current active planning horizon. Priorities are reviewed annually, progress is documented, and future-year objectives may be refined as new information and possibilities emerge.

Strategic Priority 2026 2027 2028 2029 2030
Artistic Production and Innovation Establish the annual production calendar and standard production-planning system. Document access planning from the beginning of major productions. Use the production-planning system consistently for major productions. Develop reusable practices for narration, audio description, Artistic Sign Language, captions, and sound. Continue regular production while expanding works created specifically for ATM’s access-from-the-beginning model. Review artistic systems, production debriefs, and feedback. Refine practices and identify work that should grow, change, or conclude. Assess five years of artistic development and production. Carry successful practices and unfinished objectives into the next five-year horizon.
Audience Access and Global Reach Establish baseline measures for audience reach, views, engagement, geography, website use, and access information. Begin annual audience-data review. Provide clear access information, accurate credits, descriptions, and searchable metadata for major releases. Improve archived production information and expand opportunities for audience feedback and repeat engagement. Assess audience patterns and deepen use by schools, libraries, community organizations, and care-based settings. Evaluate international reach, community use, audience feedback, and the effectiveness of ATM’s access practices.
Artists and Creative Workforce Develop artist rosters across creative disciplines and establish project budgets and planned compensation before major commitments are made. Implement standard artist agreements, onboarding, and post-project feedback. Strengthen returning-artist relationships, mentorship, orientation, and knowledge-sharing opportunities. Review artist participation, compensation, payment practices, and pathways for artists to grow with ATM. Assess the strength, diversity, continuity, and support of ATM’s creative workforce and establish priorities for the next five-year horizon.
Education, Toolkits, and Public Learning Create a reusable engagement-toolkit model connected to ATM productions. Begin publishing substantial digital engagement resources and offering public learning activities connected to the work. Develop public resources explaining ATM’s artistic practices and establish systems for tracking educational use. Continue toolkits and public-learning programs while reviewing participant, educator, and partner feedback. Evaluate the educational resource library and documented use by schools, libraries, community organizations, educators, and care-based settings.
Digital Platform and Archive Establish a consistent naming and filing system and create a basic inventory of major digital and production assets. Improve principal YouTube playlists, create or maintain public information pages for major productions, and preserve core production materials. Improve priority archive entries and establish a practical backup or preservation method for essential files. Continue preservation, improve documentation, and address missing or vulnerable archive materials. Conduct a comprehensive archive review and identify preservation priorities for the next five-year horizon.
Partnerships and Community Reach Define priority partner categories and establish a simple system for tracking relationships and outreach. Create a partner information packet and begin sustained outreach to mission-aligned organizations. Develop repeatable models for screenings, facilitated conversations, classroom use, library programs, and community engagement. Deepen productive relationships, review partner feedback, and assess the organizational capacity required to sustain partnership work. Assess documented partnerships, repeat relationships, community use, and the value of partnership activity to ATM’s mission.
Financial Sustainability and Governance Establish an annual fundraising calendar, project budgeting practices, board review, and regular organizational policy review. Establish financial baselines, reusable fundraising materials, a board dashboard, and a written co-leadership framework. Strengthen contributed income and implement a recurring or annual individual-giving campaign tied to clear impact. Establish a Board-approved financial threshold and phased hiring plan for a paid Managing Director and assess organizational readiness. Strengthen revenue diversification, establish a reserve approach, review financial sustainability, and advance paid administrative leadership when the Board-approved threshold permits.

Annual Review and Renewal

Arizona Theatre Matters reviews this strategic plan annually. At each review, the completed year moves into the organization’s strategic record, progress and outcomes are documented, and a new fifth year is added.

This rolling structure allows ATM to maintain a continuous five-year horizon rather than periodically replacing one static strategic plan with another. Priorities may evolve as goals are achieved, conditions change, new knowledge emerges, and unforeseen artistic or organizational possibilities become available.